Today is our last day of pilgrimage, but it would not be another day, but another day in this Holy Land.
Today is our last day of pilgrimage, but it would not be another day, but another day in this Holy Land.
To begin we must mention that some distances in the Gospels are relative, but if in the stories we must take into account the travel times on foot.
This is the case of Emmaus, that there are several peoples who attribute it to him but some may be questioned by the facts.
Cleopas and the other disciple left early from Jerusalem, then at dusk they would surely be more than 20km from this city, more or less what they walked by day.
This rules out several towns that claim to have been “Emmaus” being within this distance. On the other hand there are facts that confirm a site.
This happened in 1870, when Santa Maria de Jesus Crucified (of whom we knew something of his life in the previous exit) was on his way to Nazareth in a caravan when the Lord told him to leave the road a few meters and that would be The place where was recognized when breaking the bread. The Saint listened and commissioned some men to dig where the Lord told her. To everyone’s surprise that “mountain” that everyone knew hid to Byzantine church that had been buried for more than 600 years.
At present it is an archaeological site, the church has no roof but it was here where we celebrated the Eucharist.
Imagine the emotion of reliving the moment when the Lord was recognized by breaking the bread, in the same place, and sharing the living bread.
If for many it was exciting, think only of the feeling that this awakened in the pilgrims who met Jesus through the Retreat called just Emmaus.
Carried to tears by the emotion lived we left for Jaffa. This is where Saint Peter, as Saint Cyprian describes in the Acts of the Apostles, revives a woman named Tabitha who did many good deeds but had fallen ill and died. His widower and friends called Peter and he asked for the mercy of the Lord and the light returned to the woman giving her life again. This is also where Peter received that vision that we mentioned in the visit to Caesarea of unclean animals to eat and that he later understood that it was non-Jews that he must also convert since the Kingdom of Heaven is for everyone.
We visited this Church just before closing, so we could only pray a few minutes. We have reached the end of our pilgrimage to the Land of the Lord. We leave with a great sadness but with the need to thank the Lord for having come to know his place. Knowing this land allowed us to understand many things of the Gospels, to understand the reasons why some events happened, in other words, to put images to the Gospels.
We know that pilgrimage is easy for us in this section we try to share as much as possible so that they can accompany us in a virtual way in these trips. Knowing the land of the Lord leads us to have the obligation to tell what was lived. For all religions and especially for the “Nazarenes” it should be a journey in life.
Thanks for joining us and we hope you liked it.
Traveler Tips
- Israel is a country that lives with a threat of conflict, this honestly is not perceived in the street. While it is clear, and perhaps a little strange to see soldiers armed heavily in the street, this does not take away from the desire to live these places.
- If you come to sleep in Palestine. Bethlehem, Nablus or Jericho are under the authority of the Palestinian Authority and it is a different experience.
- Go to the Holy Sepulcher at 5.30 AM is the time to live it.
- Many of the Holy places are small and will really have many pilgrims, but do not let this disturb you and live your pilgrimage with an open heart.
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